Mastering the Art of French Kissing
by Foodie
Summary: Things are going really well for Steve and his new girlfriend Susan, but Valentine's Day is fast approaching. This will be his first Valentine's Day since his return and he wants it to be the perfect day. Who better to turn to for advice on how to celebrate, than Tony Stark? This is a continuation of my Christmas story entitled Just Like the Ones I Used to Know.


A/N: This story is a continuation of my Christmas story, entitled "Just Like the Ones I Used to Know". I recommend that you read that story first before reading this one, or you may not understand what's going on! And if you have read it, then welcome back! I hope to continue this series throughout the year, since I enjoyed writing the Christmas story so much.

It was a mild mid-February day, and Steve Rogers was tired of staying inside due to the cold weather of the previous week. Now that it was nicer, it was time to venture outside again. He put on his jacket, left his umbrella behind, and went for a walk to the library to return the books he'd borrowed a couple weeks ago.

He was finding it easier to try new things since he'd started dating Susan. Seeing how brave she was venturing out around the city without the aid of sight showed him that he could learn to adapt to this world too. She was a constant source of inspiration to him. This had spurred him on to try out the library again after such a long absence. He'd always loved reading books as a child and had spent hours there, reading about faraway lands and avoiding neighborhood bullies. He had been shocked to find that, in spite of all the new fancy computers and technological advances, it was still based on the "old-fashioned" Dewey decimal system he remembered after all this time. It had made it a little easier for him to find the books he wanted. He'd been reading history books to get caught up, as well as to read a historical perspective on the war in which he'd served. He hadn't been there when it had ended, and found it to be very sobering and eye-opening to read about it in retrospect. He love his country very much, but felt unsettled over some of its actions. He'd also been reading about the events of the past as well, and was surprised to find out that a lot of what he'd been taught as a student wasn't the full story. People hadn't always done the right thing, or been kind to one another, and it was a difficult reality to adjust to. Apparently those who wrote history wanted to make themselves look good and omitted a lot of the bad things. It had been a disappointing moment to realize this. Disillusionment was never easy.

As a result, Steve had allowed himself to delve into the world of the books he'd loved as a child and a young man. They were still as enjoyable as he'd remembered. Jack London novels like The Call of the Wild and White Fang had always been some of his favorites. His absolute favorite books of his childhood, though, were the Hardy Boys series. He had been very excited to see that they were available at the library. Knowing that people today enjoyed the books he had enjoyed made him feel more connected. Apparently, good taste in books, was timeless.

Along the way to the library, he noticed several tacky-looking signs in store windows advertising for Valentine's Day. They'd been there since the day after Christmas, but for some reason, they caught his eye that day. February fourteenth, it was just a few days away. St. Valentine's Day was never something he'd ever had a chance to celebrate when he was younger, since he'd never had had a sweetie to celebrate it with. In his day, a card was about the most that was given; the Depression wasn't conducive to spending a lot of money on a minor holiday.

As Steve looked at the pink and red cardboard cutout hearts in the window, he smiled. He could celebrate with Susan this year. But what was the proper way to? He knew it was about romance, but he was still getting a handle on that department.

He stepped into the store and looked for the aisle with the matching tacky decorations from the window and stopped to see what was considered "romantic" in these new times. There was row upon row of candy, mostly heart-shaped, and heart-shaped boxes of chocolates. He found small boxes of pastel-colored heart candies that had messages written on them, but since they weren't Braille, he decided against them. Everything in the aisle was pink and red and it made him feel nauseous after a while.

Besides candy, there were stuffed toys with hearts on them, and two entire rows of greeting cards. This was considered romance? He couldn't bring himself to buy a teddy bear for Susan; he knew he'd look too foolish walking down the street with it. With a sigh, he left the store, wondering what to do. Maybe Susan didn't celebrate St. Valentine's Day and didn't expect anything from him at all.

After his trip to the library, he stopped at Stark Tower for their weekly "Monopoly Monday" match. They had started it just after New Year's, as it was a game both were familiar with, and it gave them something to do besides start arguments with each other. They had forged a tentative friendship, and Steve had come to look forward to it, in spite of the fact that Tony cheated terribly. He didn't even try to hide it. Steve had decided to accept it as a character flaw.

Tony had a triple-decker bacon sandwich and a cold glass of milk waiting for Steve when he arrived. It was his standard Monopoly snack. Pepper greeted him with a smile before leaving the tower for the afternoon. "You two boys play nicely now," she said as she left. "I don't want to have to separate you when I get back."

Tony made an obscene gesture at her, though he was grinning as he did. Steve gasped as he looked over at Pepper. She however, merely rolled her eyes and walked out the door.

Steve sat down at the table by the window that was their officially designated Monopoly table, while Tony set up the board. "I'll deal the money if you don't mind," Steve said, holding his hand out for the box.

Tony put on a sad face. "I am hurt, Steve," he replied. "It's like you don't trust me or something…"

Steve raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. "You think?"

Tony sighed and held the box of money out to him. "All right, I suppose you can," he said. "I'll still beat you anyway…" He looked through the silver playing pieces and picked up the iron. "You know, I heard on the news that they're getting rid of the iron," he said quietly, frowning slightly. "What's wrong with iron?"

Steve looked over at his friend and frowned as well. "Nothing," he replied. He watched as Tony looked at the tiny piece before clasping it in one hand and holding out the other pieces to Steve in his other hand. Steve picked out the top hat and set it down. "We'll just keep playing with this set. That way you can always be the iron." Tony smiled before taking a sip of his beer and setting his piece down next to Steve's.

The two embarked on a long afternoon of playing the game. They only bickered a few times over some of Tony's controversial moves. He always managed to buy Park Place and Boardwalk first, no matter how hard Steve tried to get to them. He did his best to make up for it by trying to collect all the railroads instead.

During a lull in their bickering, Steve sighed. As much as he hated the idea of turning to Tony for help, he was desperate enough to do so at this point in time. "Do you know anything about St. Valentine's Day? What do people do nowadays to celebrate?" he asked.

Tony smiled and took a sip of his beer before responding. "Susan hasn't given you any hints? Not a surprise. She's testing you…Valentine's Day is pretty much make it or break it time for us guys. The worst thing you could do is take her word for it if she says she'll like whatever you get for her. She won't. It has to be amazing because she will remember it for the rest of her life, so you can't blow it. I've been planning it for months now. Pepper has quite exacting tastes. I have to top last year, which was…amazing…I mean, how do you top a spontaneous trip to Paris just to look at the Eiffel Tower all lit up at night?"

Steve blanched. "Months? Paris? I've got until Thursday…"

"Well, what does she like? How expensive are her tastes? Would she want jewelry or something like that?"

"She's blind, I don't see why she'd want jewelry…"

Tony smiled wisely. "You miss the point entirely, Steve. Women don't want jewelry because it's pretty, they want it because it's expensive. It proves you love her enough to shell out a lot of money on her. And because it makes other women jealous. It's a status symbol."

Steve considered this for a minute. "I suppose I could look for something," he said. He'd never purchased jewelry for a woman before and the idea of it made his palms sweat.

"And of course you'll have to take her out to eat," Tony continued. "Somewhere expensive and fancy. Good luck getting a reservation at this late a date…"

Steve's heart sank as he realized Susan's holiday would not be as magical as she was probably expecting it to be.

"Oh, another thing that's good? Lingerie. Women love it! I like to call it my Valentine's Day gift to myself, if you know what I mean." Tony wriggled his eyebrows as Steve's cheeks flushed. Tony seemed to notice this and grinned. "Wait, don't tell me you two haven't…you know…"

Steve flushed deeper and took a bite of his sandwich to try and compose himself before responding. "Let's just get back to the game, all right?" he finally said after a minute.

"Oh my God, you haven't! You are such a Puritan!" Tony cackled.

Steve frowned and folded his arms. "Tony…The Puritans were Protestants," he replied. "Now let's just get back to the game, all right?"

Tony reluctantly returned to the game, though he still had a look of wonderment on his face. "You know, Valentine's Day might be the perfect time to…" he trailed off a while later.

"And so would my wedding night!" Steve snapped. "Can we please stop talking about this?"

"You're seriously going to wait until you get married? That's just unheard of these days, you know."

"I do know, actually. And I don't care."

"That's what I like about you, Steve," Tony said with a grin. "You don't bend your beliefs for anybody or anything. You're a true pillar of virtue." With that, they returned to the game without anymore interruptions.

Pepper had returned by the time Steve left. She walked him to the door. "Are you and Tony doing anything for Valentine's Day?" he asked casually, wanting to get another perspective on the occasion.

Pepper rolled her eyes. "Hopefully," she replied. "I would love for it to go better than last year. Last year Tony spent most of the day passed out and when he finally got up, he locked himself in his lab and welded me a large metal heart out of suit scraps. It was a very odd day…"

Steve smiled to himself as he left Stark Tower. He was finally starting to catch on to Tony's art of exaggeration. Perhaps he didn't have so much to fear about Valentine's Day after all.

(SCENE)

That night, Susan surprised him as they ate dinner at her apartment. Even though she worked every day, she still insisted on cooking for him in spite of his protests that she must be too tired and that they could eat out instead. "I like cooking," she insisted. It always amazed him that she could cook so well when she couldn't see, but she seemed to have a system that worked very well. "I keep everything in specific places," she told him one day as he watched with wonderment while she chopped an onion flawlessly. "It takes practice, and I've cut myself plenty of times, but I'm better than I was."

As they ate homemade macaroni and cheese, with Diggory sitting at their feet, Susan asked Steve what he wanted to do for Valentine's Day. "I thought it was my job to figure it all out," he replied, feeling bewildered.

"Of course not!" Susan exclaimed. "We'll plan it together. Only our gifts will be our own to choose."

"What would you like for a gift?" he asked, deciding to go to the direct source.

Susan smiled and held one of her hands out for Steve to take. He grasped it and squeezed it lovingly. "Darling, I know I'll love whatever you get me," she replied. "Because I know it came from you and you will have put a lot of thought into it. That's all that matters."

Steve's heart sank as he listened to her response. Maybe Tony really _did_ know what he was talking about after all…

The next day, Steve walked around his neighborhood trying to think of what to get for Susan. He walked past a Victoria's Secret store and couldn't even glance in the display window at the mannequins wearing lingerie without blushing. There was no way he could ever go into a store like that. He couldn't even allow his mind to ponder what Susan might look like wearing any of it without feeling like he was going to faint. Lingerie was definitely out.

Later that morning, he walked by a stationery store and went inside to look around. Much to his delight, he found an entire section of Braille greeting cards. Among them were several Valentine's Day cards to choose from. After debating the merits of each one, he chose the one that expressed his feelings for her in the most straightforward way. He had always hated mushy sentiment. This card would do just fine.

After stopping for lunch at a nearby hotdog stand, he continued on his mission. There was a jewelry shop at the end of the block, and he thought he'd look around. Maybe he'd find just the right thing for her. The prices were shockingly high, in his opinion. He wasn't sure he'd ever adjust to prices in these new times. After searching through the entire shop, he found a small display case of jewels at a more affordable price, and look through them. Most of them were small, intended as pieces to add to charm bracelets, as the shopkeeper explained. A charm bracelet? Would that be romantic enough? One of the charms caught Steve's eye. It was a red heart entwined with a blue heart that created a purple center. "I like this one," he said to the shopkeeper, "But I'm not sure I want to get a bracelet…"

"You could always buy a chain for it and make it into a necklace," the shopkeeper suggested before showing Steve an array of chains that would match the silver of the charm's backing.

"This would definitely work," Steve said, picking out one that would be long enough for Susan to slip over her head without having to worry about clasps. He slipped the charm onto the chain and attached the clasps, and then the shopkeeper put it into a red felt heart-shaped box for him. Steve left the shop feeling very happy with his choice.

That night, he looked through the phone book and made call after call to find a reservation for dinner on Valentine's Day, but everything was fully booked already. Unless he wanted to take Susan out to the hotdog cart or to his favorite pizza place, he was going to have to come up with another idea. Maybe he could cook for her. His cooking skills were slowly coming along. He was comfortable with almost all breakfast foods, and sandwiches, which in his mind, was all any man really needed to survive. But he couldn't invite Susan over and celebrate the holiday with pancakes or grilled cheese sandwiches. This would have to be a special meal. It might even require a cookbook…

First thing Wednesday morning, Steve went out to the library and came back with an armful of cookbooks to look through. The Joy of Cooking, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and the Fanny Farmer Cookbook were among them. Surely he would be able to find something simple enough for him to make, but fancy enough to be worthy of serving to Susan.

He spent hours reading through all the books before settling on a menu. He'd start off with tossed green salad with homemade bleu cheese dressing, and then there would be steak and baked potatoes with steamed green beans for dinner. And to finish the meal: the Reine de Saba chocolate cake from Julia Child's cookbook. He hoped that would be enough to impress Susan.

That afternoon, he made a shopping list of all the ingredients and cooking equipment he needed. He'd never done any baking before, so he didn't have a cake pan or mixing bowls.

As he walked through a kitchen store, he felt out of his element. He'd gone to the same store back at Christmas to get Tony's fondue set, and had felt just as out of place then as he did now. He just needed more practice in the kitchen. In today's world, he had learned, cooking was no longer considered "women's work," so he needed to practice more. He didn't want Susan to think he was incompetent by today's standards. He wanted her to know that he was just as capable as anybody else.

After a while, one of the store clerks offered to help him, and he accepted it gratefully. With her guidance and helpful explanations, he chose what he needed and even splurged on a multi-colored whisk that caught his eye. He was assured that it was strong and could withstand very high temperatures. It was a good purchase.

He returned a few hours later, after going to the grocery store, with bags of food and cooking equipment in his arms. He dropped them all on his kitchen table and began to unpack everything.

That night, he called Susan and invited her over to his apartment for dinner the next evening. He was nervous because it would be the first time she was coming over for an extended amount of time. He always found it was easier to be a gentleman when he was visiting her place. But his apartment had his bedroom in it, and his bedroom had his bed in it…

Being with Susan was a great temptation for him, but he didn't want to go too far with her yet. It was too soon in their relationship. He had always thought that the first time he would make love to a woman would be on their wedding night. But Susan was so beautiful, and she always seemed so willing to do more than just the kissing and holding hands they normally did. He could tell because occasionally she let her hands wander and he had to politely ask her to stop. It always amazed him at how openly and freely she expressed her desire for him. He didn't know when things had changed, and sex at any point in time of a relationship was now considered standard, but he wasn't used to it yet, and wasn't sure if he approved of it. He'd watched all the movies about health and hygiene in the Army. He knew all about diseases. It was probably safer to wait until he was married.

But the more he got to know Susan, the more he wanted to be intimate with her. It had led to more than one cold shower since meeting her. What would happen if she came over and wanted to do more than he was ready to? Could he say no? _Should_ he say no? Life was just so complicated now…How did people manage it? He wished he had somebody to talk to about it. Howard Stark had been a good resource for such things, but Tony was not a person he could ever talk to about these matters. And there was no way he could speak to Pepper or Natasha, or any other woman. Hawkeye and Nick Fury would never work out. If only Bruce Banner was around, he might feel comfortable enough to ask him for advice. But he didn't even know where Bruce was right now, so it didn't matter. He'd have to just do his best on his own.

That night, he tried to distract himself from romantic thoughts of Susan, by thinking about cooking dinner the next day. It was going to take a lot of hard work and coordination to pull it off. He fell asleep that night with a picture of a chocolate cake in his mind.

Valentine's Day dawned and Steve woke up feeling voraciously hungry. He was too hungry to even think and somehow managed to get dressed before heading down to the café at the corner for his usual French toast, Belgian waffle, and Denver omelet breakfast.

Once his hunger had abated, he was able to think again, and returned home to get started on his dinner for Susan. Some of the food had to wait until closer to dinner, but there was a lot of stuff he could still get ready.

He decided to start with the homemade bleu cheese dressing. It was fun to make, mixing buttermilk with mayonnaise, although crumbling the cheese was rather pungent and made quite a mess to clean up. He learned that wiping off the table with a sponge just smeared cheese all over it. It took a long time to clean it, but he managed it eventually.

The next thing Steve did was chop shallots for the butter sauce to accompany the steak. It took a while before deciding on the best plan of attack, since they were so round and kept rolling around on the cutting board when he tried to slice them. Eventually, they cooperated and he felt proud at having conquered the task, but after a minute, his nose and eyes began to burn. Tears formed in his eyes and spilled onto his cheeks. "Aaaah!" he cried, dropping the knife onto the cutting board with a clatter and running to stick his head under the sink. When he felt the stinging dissipate, he stood up and washed his hands thoroughly before wiping himself down with a clean towel. He walked to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. His hair was dripping wet and his eyes were red and puffy. He was glad that Susan wouldn't be able to see him in case it didn't clear up.

He was amazed at the change in smell when he sautéed the shallots in butter. They were extraordinary! When they were soft, he added an anchovy and a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and stirred it all together. After a couple grinds of black pepper, he declared it done and poured it into a bowl to chill in the refrigerator. When he cooked the steaks later, the butter would melt into the meat. His mouth watered just to think about it.

The next hurdle was the cake. He'd never made a cake, but had seen the mixes they sell in the store, and hadn't been brave enough to try one. Cake in a box just sounded unpleasant to him.

He'd purchased a small electronic scale in order to weigh out the ingredients and carefully followed the instructions for combining them together. There was a problem when he cracked the eggs into the small bowl he'd set aside for them. Pieces of shell got stuck in the raw eggs and he had to fish them out carefully before he could move on.

It was intimidating to melt chocolate on the stove, but nothing bad happened, so he considered it a success. He added the rum as instructed and then began to mix the batter together. The batter was soon smooth and smelled wonderfully chocolaty. The cake pan had already been prepared and the oven was preheated. After pouring the batter into the pan, he carefully placed it in the oven and shut the door.

After setting the timer, he cleaned up all the dishes and wiped down all the surfaces in the kitchen. He couldn't stand the thought of having a dirty home when Susan was coming to visit.

The rest of the afternoon passed quickly with the cake coming out of the oven and needing to be frosted. He followed the instructions, made the frosting for it, and waited until it was cool to apply it. The final step was to press slivered toasted almonds along the side to make it look even prettier.

When it was complete, he stood back and admired his hard work. It looked and smelled amazing and he couldn't wait to try it later. He wished he had a camera to take a picture of it. He'd seen cameras that were built into people's cell phones and thought it amazing what technological advances had been made since he'd crashed. Now that he'd mastered the cell phone, he thought he could handle a camera. He'd never had one before. If he had a camera, he could take pictures of things happening in his life that he wanted to remember, like spending time with Susan. He could make a whole photo album just of her. But he didn't have a camera, so he tried to commit the vision of the cake to his memory.

During a lull in his work, he sat by the window in his living room and watched as people walked by below him. Men walked by with large red boxes of chocolates for their sweethearts, and some of them had bouquets of flowers. He hadn't thought of flowers for Susan. Was he supposed to get her flowers too? It was probably something he was expected to get. He jumped up out of his chair, grabbed his jacket and wallet and ran out the door to the grocery store down the street.

There were several different types of bouquets, but none of them looked very nice. It was the very last minute, so most of the good bouquets were taken. He supposed it didn't matter much what they looked like, and he quickly noticed that the older, less pretty ones, actually smelled more strongly than the fresher ones. With that in mind, he sniffed out the best bouquet for Susan. He chose a mixture of white daisies, red roses, and pink carnations. He hoped she'd like them.

An hour before Susan was due to arrive, after returning from the store, he scrubbed the potatoes and poked them several times with a fork. He wasn't sure why he needed to do this, but all the books seemed to agree that it was a vital step in making the perfect baked potato. He could smell them in the oven when she arrived.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Steve!" Susan cried before wrapping her arms around his shoulders and kissing his cheek. Steve leaned down and pressed his lips to hers for a minute. "That was a wonderful way to start the evening," she said when they parted. He presented the flowers to Susan as soon had set her purse down on his coffee table and had gotten Diggory settled in at the foot of the sofa. "They smell wonderful," she said with a smile while running her fingertips over the plants to "see" them better.

Steve moved into the kitchen to work on the steaks and salad, and Susan sat down at the kitchen table to talk to him. She took a deep breath and smiled. "So many delicious smells," she commented as he washed a head of iceburg lettuce in his sink. When the greens were torn and he'd added diced tomatoes and shredded carrots to it, he turned his attention to the steaks. He'd purchased a grill pan and was excited to try it out. Salt and pepper was the only seasoning that went on the steaks before he put them in the pan. Soon they were sizzling loudly.

He finished all the last minute details, dressing the salad, garnishing the steaks with the butter sauce, and putting butter and sour cream in the baked potatoes. To make things easier for Susan, he sliced the steaks into thin strips before putting it on the plate, so she wouldn't have to deal with cutting anything.

He set her plate down in front of her and explained in detail all he'd made. He sat back in nervous silence and watched as she took her first bite of steak. She ate quietly for a minute, giving no sign of what she thought. Slowly though, she grinned. "Oh Steve, this is just marvelous!" she declared. He sighed in relief and started to eat his own dinner.

As he looked at his plate, though, something was missing. What was missing? "The green beans! I forgot them!" he cried, jumping up and rushing to the refrigerator.

"Steve! Don't worry about it," Susan called out to him. "It's perfect, really. The salad works as a vegetable."

Steve put the bag of green beans back in the refrigerator and sat back down. "Green beans are my favorite vegetable," he said mournfully.

"You can make them tomorrow," Susan suggested.

"I could…" Steve replied before returning to his meal. They kept up a lively conversation for the rest of the meal. Susan worked at a local chapter of the Red Cross and loved her job. She always had interesting stories to tell him. Sometimes it made him wish he had an interesting job he could tell her about.

When dinner was over, he cleared the plates before cutting thick slices of the cake and pouring glasses of milk for them. "Now, for dessert…" he announced as he set Susan's cup and plate in front of her.

"I just feel so spoiled!" she said before taking a bite. "Oh my God, Steve, this is amazing!"

Steve took a bite and grinned. It _was_ good! He ate his piece in a few bites and was tempted to go back for seconds, but didn't want to make a pig of himself. But when Susan asked for seconds, he gladly helped himself to more as well.

When they were pleasantly stuffed, Steve cleared off the table and opned a can of dog food for Diggory's dinner. He called the dog into the kitchen to eat before leading Susan back to the living room. "Present time," he said as he picked up the red velvet box from the coffee table and handed it to her. "I hope you like it…"

Susan carefully opened the box and took the necklace out. She ran her fingertips along the heart charm. "Tell me what it looks like," she said quietly. He sat down next to her and told her about the colors and how they entwined to make a combined color. He slipped the necklace over her head and kissed her cheek. She wrapped her fingers over the charm and squeezed it tightly. "It's beautiful," she whispered. "Thank you."

Next, Steve handed her his card and watched her face light up as she realized it was written in Braille. By the time she'd finished reading it, she had tears in her eyes and started to sniffle. Steve handed her a tissue. "You're just the sweetest man I've ever known," she said once she could talk again. "I feel like my gift will pale in comparison to the evening we've had so far." She reached out for her purse and grabbed a box from inside. She held it sheepishly out to Steve.

Steve wasn't used to receiving gifts, so anything he got was precious to him. He opened the box and unwrapped a layer of red tissue paper. He carefully lifted out the item inside which unfolded before his eyes into a lacy black negligee. His jaw dropped open and he looked at Susan, though she couldn't see his confusion. "Uh…uh…it's a…it's…" he stammered as his palms began to sweat and his throat dried out. "Uh…you want me to wear this?"

Susan's face broke into a grin. "No silly, I thought _I_ would put it on and we could just see where things go from there…" she explained while leaning over to kiss him.

Steve dropped the negligee on the sofa as Susan wrapped her arms around him. What was happening? Why wasn't he trying to stop her? Did she actually want to go all the way with him? They hadn't even exchanged "I love you's" yet, but she was ready for more than even that? His mind raced about as quickly as her hands wandered over his body. His heart felt ready to explode as her hand slipped around and down to grasp his backside firmly. He yelped and gently pushed Susan off of him. "Whoa," he breathed as she sat up. "I don't think…"

"You're not ready, are you?" Susan asked gently.

"I don't think so…I'm sorry," Steve replied mournfully. He felt ashamed and humiliated that something people today did so freely was something he just couldn't do yet.

Susan patted the space on the sofa next to her and he sat down. She took his hand and squeezed it tightly. "Don't apologize and don't be sorry," she said firmly. "Don't ever let anybody make you do something you're not comfortable with. We'll just go at your pace and have a great time."

Steve picked up the negligee and set it back in the box. "Maybe someday I'll be ready to see you in this," he said sheepishly.

Susan ran her fingertips up and down his arms, nearly driving him insane as she did. "Do you know how the French kiss?" she asked after a minute. He made a sound that conveyed his ignorance, and she smiled. "Would you like to learn?" Steve made an utterance expressing his desire to learn and she leaned in to kiss him. He lost all track of time or reality after that.

When they finally broke apart some time later, to catch their breath, it took a minute for him to be able to speak again. "How did I do?" he asked curiously.

"Very good," Susan said with a grin. "But you know what they say, 'Practice makes perfect'."

Steve laughed before leaning in to kiss her. "They still say that these days?" he murmured before pressing his lips to hers.

It was much later that night when Susan left his apartment. She declared him an expert in the art of French kissing. "I wonder how the Italians kiss," he commented jokingly as he walked her to the door.

"I don't know, but maybe we can figure it out together tomorrow…"

"Sounds like a plan to me," he replied before giving her one last kiss.

Just before he shut the door, Susan called out to him from down the hall. "Well, it seems a shame to waste my present for you. I suppose I'll just have to wear it tonight…all by myself…Anyway, I just thought you might like that visual…" With that, she sauntered down the hallway to the elevator, Diggory leading the way.

Steve shut the door and sighed. There'd be no sleep for him tonight now…He didn't care though, it had been a very successful Valentine's Day. He didn't know how Tony's night was going, or if he was even conscious at the moment, but it couldn't possibly compare to the night Steve had just had. He'd have to ask next Monday during their Monopoly match to compare notes.

It was nearly dawn before Steve fell asleep with a smile on his face.

A/N: I have made the Reine de Saba, or the Queen of Sheba, cake from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, by Julia Child. I can personally vouch for its deliciousness. I highly recommend trying it out for yourself some time. You may never be able to go back to cake mixes again…


End file.
